The Delhi police on Saturday registered a case based on the allegations of a 42-year-old Ghaziabad resident who had said his kidney was ‘stolen’ at a private nursing home in Shahdara in 2001.

The Delhi police on Saturday registered a case based on the allegations of a 42-year-old Ghaziabad resident who had said his kidney was ‘stolen’ at a private nursing home in Shahdara in 2001.

The action followed after there was no response from the Ghaziabad Police that had lodged an FIR into the case in June earlier this year.

HT had first reported the case on 19 June 2009.

The Delhi police registered a case under the Organ Act on Saturday, acting on a report of the Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) and the Health Department of the Delhi Government.

The SDM had conducted an enquiry based on the story published in HT.

“We registered a case on the basis of a complaint by the area SDM. We are investigating the case,” said Dharmendra Kumar, joint commissioner of police (New Delhi Range).

Devendra Gupta, a former travel agent, said he realised his kidney (left side) had been “stolen” from Shanti Nursing Home in Shahdara, where he had undergone a stone-removal operation in 2001

In January 2009, he faced some problems in his right kidney, forcing him to go for an ultrasound in a private diagnostic centre in Ghaziabad. The doctor there mentioned in the report that his ‘left kidney is invisible’.

His right kidney has developed complications now and he needs an urgent transplant.

“The doctors at All India Institute of Medical Sciences have told me to undergo a kidney-transplant in January 2010. The kidney will be donated by my wife,” Gupta said.

“There was no action from Ghaziabad Police even after we lodged an FIR with them.”

Having “lost his travel business completely” due to growing treatment costs, Gupta has sold off his remaining 10 bighas of land at his parental house in Lakhimpur, Uttar Pradesh.

“All his belongings, including his wife’s jewellery have already been sold off to meet the treatment expenses. Ghaziabad police did nothing,” his sister Kanti Gupta said.

“We are now pinning our hopes on the Delhi police. I am spending Rs 20,000 every month for the dialysis that keeps me alive. The next transplant will also cost me Rs 3.55 lakh,” Gupta told HT.

“The accused named by the victim are absconding and we are trying our best to nab them,” said a senior police officer not authorized to speak to the media.